Area under wheat up in rabi season pulses, oilseeds down

Sowing area under wheat has gone up in the current rabi season, but coverage under pulses, oilseeds and coarse cereals has declined, Parliament was informed today.

The findings are part of preliminary reports received from crop directorates for weekly meetings of the Crop Weather Watch Group as on December 16, Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

"...The area coverage under wheat during 2011-12 has been higher by 400,000 hectare as compared to the area covered under the corresponding period of the last rabi season," Rawat said.

The sowing area under rabi coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds, however, has been lower by 280,000 hectare, 110,000 hectare and 600,000 hectare, respectively, in the same period, he pointed out.

The sowing in rabi (winter) season starts from October and the harvesting of crops is undertaken during March-April.

"Lower coverage of area under rabi coarse cereals and pulses has been mainly on account of shortfall in area in states of Karnataka and Maharashtra due to moisture stress in the rabi sowing season," Rawat said.

The shortfall in area under rabi oilseeds has been mainly due to lower area coverage under rapeseed and mustard in Rajasthan, compared to the last rabi season, he added.

The minister said that area under rapeseed and mustard was more than normal in the 2010-11 rabi season due to higher coverage (497,000 hectare) area of Taramira crop as against its normal coverage (91,000 hectare) due to good rainfall and moisture conditions.

According to the agriculture ministry's data, wheat has been sown in 24.41 million hectare as on December 16, compared to 24 million hectare in the corresponding year-ago period.

Coverage under coarse cereals was down at 5.2 million hectare compared to 5.51 million hectare in the review period.

Similarly, area sown to oilseeds stands lower at 7.55 million hectare till December 16 in the current rabi season, as against 8.15 million hectare in the year-ago period.

Pulses acreage was slightly lower at 12.94 million hectare, as compared to 13 million hectare in the same period.

Concerned over low output of pulses and decrease in the sowing area this kharif season, the government has earmarked additional Rs 80 crore to help states increase the acreage under the staple foodgrain during the ongoing rabi season.

The country produced 85.93 million tonne wheat, 42.22 million tonne of coarse cereals, 31.10 million tonne of oilseeds and 18.09 million tonne of pulses in the 2010-11 crop year (July-June).